Traudl Renner uses a stylus and wax to paint delicate designs of geometric shapes and swirling streaks on the rounded canvas of a white turkey egg.

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Then she dips the egg in a cup of yellow dye with a wire holder and sets it on a board to dry. She adds more lines and designs to the egg and dips it in the next darker color -- maybe orange.

After she has dipped and painted on wax, dipped and added more wax, she rubs the wax off with "white gas," which is a type of petroleum, to reveal an egg that is colored a multitude of brilliant hues.

Renner's mother-in-law taught her the Ukrainian egg technique, which she learned while working at a craft store in Ohio. Trenner moved to the United States from Germany with her American husband, whom she met in Israel. She was in her 20s at the time.

The painted Ukrainian eggs are called "pysanky." The traditional way is to leave the yolk and white inside to dry out, but Renner also sometimes uses a needle to poke a hole and a syringe to extract the contents. "I've broken a lot of eggs that way," she said.

She started painting pysanky eggs 20-30 years ago and used a Ukrainian instruction book to get started.

Then she moved away from that to create her own designs inspired by life -- a trip to Hawaii, a children's story, a Christmas egg.

"I wanted to try different patterns and different colors, and I just did whatever came to me," Trenner said.

-- Jessica Benes

Japanese washi paper

When complete, washi eggs are light, decorative pieces that appear to be delicately painted with intricate designs and sealed with a glossy sheen.

But as she wrapped Japanese paper around a hollowed-out egg in her home on Thursday, Loveland resident Dana Carlsen explained that the process is much easier than the final product would indicate.

It starts with selection of the washi paper, a Japanese paper usually used for origami, which is available at most craft stores in a wide range of designs.

Once the egg is hollow -- requiring a small hole be poked at each end and the contents blown out -- the hardest part is over.

Patterns for the washi eggs are easily found with a Google search and used to cut out the washi paper, with care to keep scraps.

The paper is rolled onto the egg and affixed with glue, or Mod Podge decoupage glue, as Carlsen prefers, one strip at a time. The scraps may be used for any small exposed pieces of egg.

The egg then can be varnished, again with Mod Podge, and set out to dry.

It's so simple that Carlsen made her first washi egg just two weeks ago after attending a workshop at the Global Village Museum led by Fort Collins eggs-pert Cathy Weir.

"I just thought it was so interesting," Carlsen said. "I had no idea it would be so easy to do."

She's even adapted the directions for a kid-friendly version. By using plastic eggs, as suggested by Carlsen's longtime friend and washi egg student Lucie Wisehart, she can cut the time in half, and the craft is safe for little hands.

-- Jessica Maher

Miniature scenes

At Easter time, Loveland resident Donna Rice likes to decorate her home with the Easter eggs she and her grandchildren cut, color and adorn.

Most of Rice's eggs are shaped into baskets filled with miniature flowers, chicks, bunnies and Easter grass and displayed in her cabinets and on tabletops.

But in 45 years of egg decorating, Rice has tried many different techniques, including making Ukrainian eggs, dioramas in eggshells and painting blown chicken, duck and goose eggs.

"It's a family-fun event," said Rice, who took classes, read magazines and watched videos to learn about egg decorating. "Everyone can have success doing it. The older they get, the more complex it can get."

Rice uses a variety of craft and sewing supplies to decorate the eggs, including lace, seam binding, grosgrain ribbon and small fabric squares. She also has Easter-themed stickers for the children.

To make the egg baskets, Rice uses manicure scissors to cut off the top of the egg (or she cuts into the side for the dioramas). She wraps them in fabric, cut to six inches square, colors them or leaves them plain.

For the fabric-covered eggs, Rice places the egg in the center of the fabric and brings the sides up to stuff inside the egg. She cuts off any extra pieces to smooth out the fabric.

Rice likes using grosgrain, a thick ribbon, to line the opening of the egg and cover the seams and to make the handle.

Her grandson, Justin Wichmann, 10, has his own methods for egg decorating, including gluing on tissue paper or using sponge rollers to roll on dye.

"You get to put your own thoughts on the eggs," Justin said. "I can make my own designs."

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